How do I Jump start my 1985 Chieftain?

[doobiewah]

Hello

I have a 22' 1985 Chieftain, 454 cid engine. I think its the Chevy chassis.  I bought it last August and went on a few overnight camping trips but this year its been mostly sitting... I'd start it up and let it run 15- 20 minutes every month or so to charge the battery, but the last time the battery ran down all the way...so I guess what I'd like to know is how do I jump this thing?
Thanks for reading

[Oz]

Same way you'd jump start a car.  Just make sure you're connecting to the chassis battery and not the coach batteries (which will have separate battery cables and will be wired together.  The chassis battery will be wired by itself).

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Since you have a Winnebago Chieftain, if your coach batteries still have a charge you can just use the MOM switch on the dash to start the engine.  There will be a switch on your dash that says "Single-Dual-Mom".  Mom stands for momentary, and if you hold the switch in that position while turning your key, it jumps the coach batteries to the starting battery.  If all your batteries are dead or the relay isn't working, then jump it the way Pharoah said.

Kev

[tiinytina]

 A handy thing to have on hand is a trickle charger. We have both an electrical one and a solar model. The solar ones you can get a northerntool.com etc for around $15-20.  For the Chassis battery you can literally put the charger on the dash inside and run the wires through the dash to the chassis batts, or just sit it on the bumper etc... if you rig is stored somewhere where it won't get messed with.  I hook ours up to the coach batts for a day before we take Gone out to make sure I can fire the genny up...  The electric one is good if you are parked inside or in heavy shade etc and have electric to plug in to.

tina

[fgutie35]

You can either put pos+ with pos+ and neg- to chassis, or neg- to neg-. No computer to mess up there :-). That is the only reason why the tell you to do the negative cable to the chassis on newer vehicles with ECU's or MCU's.

[ibdilbert01]

"That is the only reason why the tell you to do the negative cable to the chassis on newer vehicles with ECU's or MCU's."

Actually the "only" reason they (whoever "they" are) tell you to put the negative cable on the chassis is to prevent sparking on top of the battery.  Because batteries can gas (or produce hydrogen) there is a small risk of an explosion when you make an arc on top of the battery.

So technically the "safest" way to connect the jumper cables is in this order.

1. Connect the positive cables first.
2. Connect Negative to one of the vehicles.
3. Connect the remaining negative cable to a ground other than the battery post. 

This way, the very last connection will make a spark somewhere other than on top of the battery. 

As for blowing the computer, I have seen "computer safe" jumper cables.  Personally I wouldn't waste my money with them.   The manufacturers have put a lot of time and thought into the computers regulator to handle the every day various voltage your alternator can throw at it.   I've read stories where they claim jumping your car can cause a spike in the electrical system and kill the computer.  I personally have yet seen this happen.  I've also heard mechanics turning the headlights on the vehicle being jumped to help absorb any spike that may happen. 

I still can't figure out "where" a spike would come from.  If the vehicle your getting the jump from has a normal working alternator and its dealing out 13.5 volts, your certainly not going to see anything more than that on the other end of the cables.  Actually what your going to see on the other end of the cables is a voltage drop due the the length of the cables.  And if there was a "magical" spike, the dead battery would certainly absorb some of the mythical spike. 

My guess is a fair amount of cars stop running, the car won't restart and the driver then tries to get a jump.  The car never starts, they take it to a mechanic and the mechanic finds the computer bad, then the blame goes back to the jump, when actually the computer failed way before the car was actually jumped and thats why it quit in the first place.    :)rotflmao
Bottom line, consult the owners manual, if it says don't jump it, you probably shouldn't jump it.    D:oH!